Re-commerce or trading in old and outdated electronic items for a price is not a common practice in India yet. But with more and more people wanting to buy the latest in technology, dispensing old gadgets safely is important. And its all the more better if you can make some money while doing it.

There are a number of reputed sites out there doing brisk business in trading old devices.

Most websites work the same way — register once, search for the device you want to sell on the site (most have a predefined price list of gadgets that are taken back), get the quoted price for devices in working condition and finally, print the shipping label that needs to be stamped on the gadget parcel, which you will have to ship to the site. With only international websites offering the buy-back model, users from India will have to bear the shipping costs (free for those in the US).

Even though prices offered depend on the time, market demand and the condition of the gadget, putting your old gizmos on sale is a good idea.

With new technology of a certain year turning obsolete the following year, we bring you some online resources — which let technophiles sell their outdated and unwanted devices for some cold, hard cash.

http://www.YouRenew.com
Founded by two Yale students in 2008, the company offers consumers a profitable and environment-friendly way to dispose of their used smartphones, MP3 players, laptops, digital cameras, tablets and other electronic goods.

The site is user friendly and three easy steps let you recycle your old gizmo — type in the name of the device and if it is listed on YouRenew.com, then answer a few questions about the device and you’ll know how much the site would pay you. YouRenew also lets you choose the organisation – CarbonFund.org or AmericanForests.org – to recycle. Although prices are a little less compared with other sites, YouRenew offered Rs 560 to take back an old Sony digital camera and Rs 5,000 for a Samsung laptop without the charger.

http://www.cellforcash.com
The first thing to remember when you decide to sell old mobile phones online is if you send handsets in beat up condition – that do not work or without accessories – then don’t expect a high payoff. Cellforcash.com clearly highlights in its ‘Terms and Condition’ section that it is looking for quality used-items and the better conditioned the phone, the better chances of getting a nice payout.

We searched the site for a trade-off for an old Apple iPhone (the first generation model) and we were offered Rs 10,000 for the device, provided it was sent in working condition and along with its original accessories. A Motorola Razr (without a charger and data card) in working condition but with scratches fetched Rs 3,200 on the site.

http://www.buymytronics.com
Buymytronics.com, which has evolved from its earlier version of http://www.BuyMyBrokeniPod.com, lets customers sell used iPods, iPhones and consumer electronics like laptops, game consoles, PDAs and digital cameras. The process of selling the item on the site is fairly simple — select the category of the gadget, select it from the list and specify its working condition. The site would then quote a price, and if you think it’s a good bargain, then you will have to ship it to the address provided to you by email.

When we tried to trade in a Microsoft Zune with all original accessories, the site offered us just Rs 550 but when we checked the price of an old Apple iPod (Shuffle), the site offered to pay Rs 1,500.

http://www.gazelle.com
The site claims to have “found a new home for more than 20,000 used electronic goods, while responsibly recycling thousands more.”

Before you start selling your used electronics on Gazelle keep in mind that even if you try to convince that the condition of a gadget is good, the site will pay you after inspecting the device and accessories sent. We were offered Rs 3,100 for the Tom Tom 720 GPS navigator (without the charger but with headphones and the original CD of local maps) that had originally cost us about Rs 5,999.

Only when Gazelle has your device, it assesses it and emails a purchase offer — which can be more or even less than the original quoted price. Sellers can either accept or reject the offer. If the offer is rejected, Gazelle duly returns the device. If it is accepted, the site provides payment by check, PayPal, or Amazon gift card based on the seller’s preference.

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